abbacare

From abbaco (“abacus”) +‎ -are (verb-forming suffix)

• IPA^(key): /ab.baˈka.re/
• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: ab‧ba‧cà‧re

abbacàre (first-person singular present àbbaco, first-person singular past historic abbacài, past participle abbacàto, auxiliary avére)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) to calculate
2. (intransitive, figurative, rare):
   1. to daydream

      Synonyms: fantasticare, almanaccare

      • 1540s, Agnolo Firenzuola, “Atto quarto, Scena VII [Fourth Act, Scene 7]”, in La Trinuzia, collected in La Trinuzia e I Lucidi, published 1552, page 66:

        Ecco qua il Dormi; che va egli abbacando?

        Here is Dormi. What is he daydreaming about?

   2. to rack one's brain or puzzle

      Synonym: scervellarsi

• abbacare in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• Pianigiani, Ottorino (1907) “abbacare”, in Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Rome: Albrighi & Segati

• abblacare, abbracare (northern Logudorese)

Likely a borrowing. Compare Occitan abaucar (“to calm; to calm down”). The northern forms might be from a language of northern Italy (compare Lombard balcà (“to die down, calm down”)).^[1] Compare Campidanese abbacai.

• IPA^(key): /abbaˈkare/

abbacare (Logudorese)

1. (transitive) to slow down
2. (transitive) to calm down (to cause to become less excited, intense or angry)
3. (intransitive) to calm down (to become less intense) (of wind)

• Rubattu, Antoninu (2006) Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, 2nd edition, Sassari: Edes